"It's a safe place, at least for the last fifty years, the Frost Authorities never knew they were hiding such a secret beneath their feet," Nemo Wilkins said as he walked into the hideout, turning to Duncan and the others who followed him, with obvious pride in his tone, "These old sewers crisscross you, most of the area is abandoned, so it's dry and safe, and there are some forks in the road that lead to the upper pipe system, but all the connections are safe, even if one or two are found, The town hall can't search the entire underground structure, they don't have that many people at all."

The tavernkeeper said as he went to a nearby concrete wall and turned the valve on one of the pipes, and from afar there was a faint hissing of air currents—and suddenly more gas lamps came on, and those that had been kept on were brighter.

"Actually, it's pretty good that the Frost Town Hall is now able to maintain the basic functioning of the city," he turned, grinning with a hint of mockery on his slender face, "What was hidden in the sewers half a century ago?" I'm afraid only the old craftsmen who served the Frost Queen back then can make it clear."

This is a facility left over from the Queen's Era?!

Vanna immediately guessed the truth from the other party's words, and her eyes widened slightly in surprise, "These underground waterways... How did you hide them?"

Nemo shrugged, "I haven't experienced the chaos of half a century ago, but my grandfather has been talking to me for half his life - he told me that the Queen of Frost built a vast underground structure for the entire city-state, originally to cope with land pressure and lay the foundation for the city-state's long-term development, including the world's largest underground waterways, power pipes, power grids, and a complete transportation system, and the 'sewers, the deepest of them, technically speaking, it should have been named' The second waterway, because there's another one on top of this

The first waterway is the sewer system that is currently in use by Frost.

"After the Great Rebellion, the city-state didn't

Fall First - Although the rebels later advertised that they had completely destroyed the Mad Queen's last guard in a very short time, the reality was that for the entire seventy-two hours after the capture of the Queen's Palace, which is now the Civic Center, the battle was going on, and the loyalists who remained in the city moved from the ground to the underground, and the network of subway stations and power pipes crisscrossed the city with people fighting everywhere.

"The rebels storming the city centre are declaring victory, the newspapers are running news of the change of regime, citizens are hiding in their homes and feeling uneasy, subway stations are blocked, and people are lying on the ground near tube wells, listening to all sorts of disturbing sounds coming from the far depths below.

"It all went on until the day of the execution, when the roar of the sea cliffs crashing shook the city and finally put an end to the last resistance underground.

"After that, the Queen's Guard blew up all the shafts leading to the second waterway and closed the floodgates connecting to the first waterway, which, together with the intermittent small *** and man-made collapses, eventually led to the complete separation of the entire second waterway from the upper level."

Nemo Wilkins said, looking up at the heavy dome above, as if to scan the bustling streets of the city-state above through the layers of steel, cement, and stone.

"In fact, the new government established by the rebels is not ignorant of the sewers, they are aware of the existence of the Frosty Underworld—but so what? They just know it exists.

"The sea cliffs have collapsed, the city has been battered, it took decades for the frost of the civil war to recover, and boiling gold has become the last remaining economic pillar of the city, and the once cold sea first city-state is now only the glory of the history books, and to this day, the city still uses the plumbing system left by the queen.

"In such a situation, who has the ability to search the vast network deep beneath the city-state? The cost of reopening and rectifying the second waterway was unacceptable to the new government – and for the post-war frost of population and city shrinkage, a higher 'first waterway' would be enough."

"If it's enough, make do with it." Vanna suddenly remembered Morris not so long ago

A sentence that he once said, he subconsciously muttered softly.

"That's right, it's enough to make do, the city is too devastated to afford another big fight," Nemo said with a laugh, "Besides, for a city of this size, even a little 'moss' hidden in the depths of the sewers is not a big deal, heretical worship, dark breeds, night shadows, out-of-control anomalies—there are so many things hidden in the gutter that none of them deserve a more headache for the authorities and the church than we do."

Duncan didn't say much, just listened silently to the "informant's" rambling narration, and then suddenly spoke: "Such a huge underground facility, and I think there is gas and electricity supply here—it can't be maintained by you alone, right?"

"Of course not," Nemo Wilkins laughed, "we still have a few men, scattered all over the city, and even in some of the departments of the town hall, most of them are descendants of the Queen's Guard, like me, and some of them are brothers and sisters who have passed the test with General Tirion and have been confirmed to be loyal and reliable - but they are not suitable for the show."

」….… Tyrion said he had planted some 'informants' in Frost, and he was very modest," Duncan couldn't help but shake his head, "Did that kid bury such a large amount of power in Frost.......

Nemo heard Duncan's address when he referred to Tirien, and the middle-aged man's face stiffened visibly, but he didn't say anything.

As they spoke, Morris was observing the underground world with great interest, his gaze scanning the towering dome and the abandoned pipes crisscrossing the sky, as well as the many valves and pipe branches on the nearby walls, which were apparently installed later, before suddenly asking, "Do you still control the entire Second Waterway?"

"Strictly speaking, it's only a small part of it," Nemo shook his head regretfully, "As much as I'd love to say that the entire Underground Kingdom is under control, after all, we have limited manpower, and the entire Second Waterway is beyond imagination - only about one-fifth of the abandoned sewers are now under our control, and the rest of the area is either isolated from each other due to collapse, abandoned, or covered in toxic sewage, and there are still places that have been eroded by dangerous forces and are difficult to access."

"Dangerous power erosion?" Fanna on the side immediately frowned, and the occupationally sensitive cells began to thump.

"Sometimes, hunted illegal transcendents stumble into the sewers, and if they die underneath, it causes widespread pollution, but more often than not, it's the darkness itself that breeds monsters," Nemo said, "It's a huge underground world, after all, and the gas we sneak in from the pipe shafts above can't keep the entire second waterway lit, and when it's not bright enough... … Some places are plunged into darkness, and they are plunged into darkness forever."

Vanna's eyes widened, and for a moment she didn't know what to say, only feeling a little suffocated.

Coming from the prosperous Prand, who is herself the protector of the order of the city-state, she really can't imagine that a city would allow such a thing to happen—a large area of underground facilities has been in a state of darkness for a long time, and has even begun to breed shadows that cannot be purified.

However, the facts in front of me proved that this was indeed possible, and the Frost Man had lived like this for half a century, and nothing big seemed to have happened.

"It's not ruled out that there will be occasional unlucky people who have strayed into the ground and will evaporate, or that the Guardians will have a higher death rate at night than other city-states, but everyone is used to it."

Nemo could clearly see the stunned expression on Vanna's face, and he had already judged that these people in front of him were all "strangers", so he naturally knew what the other party was surprised about.

"Every few years, we clean up a few dangerous sections of the first waterway and subway branch line, pour incense and ashes into the ground every once in a while, and raise the death pension of the guards a little more, so that the gatekeepers can make two more trips, and most ordinary people are still alive and well... That's a good situation."

As he spoke, the "tavernkeeper" paused, then turned his head with a smile, "Believe me, most city-states are not much better, and they are not much better from ancient times to the present."

Duncan and the others looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say, and there was a brief and awkward silence

After that, it was Vanna who spoke first—she looked at Morris next to her and asked, "What is your judgment?"

"There are no signs of cognitive interference, and thinking and memory should be clear."

Morris answered Vanna's question, but his eyes kept falling on Nemo Wilkins, and under the old scholar's eyes, a pale silver glow was gradually dissipating.

Nemo blinked, a confused expression on his face, "You.... What are you talking about?"

Duncan turned his gaze and looked at the other man quietly, "Mr. Nemo, congratulations, you are not affected by cognitive interference.